Ruby Genetic Algorithm Library

[Peter Laurens]

Hi,

I'm looking for a (relatively) mature genetic algorithm library for use
with Ruby, so I have a choice:

1. Use GALib (a C++ library) and connect it to Ruby somehow (bridge)
2. Find a decent native Ruby GA Library

So far Google has not been helpful for (2) so I am posting here seeking
advice on whether I've missed anything. I'm aware of projects like DRP
which look good for grammatical evolution, but I'm not sure whether they
support being used for vanilla GAs. If anyone has any experience using
GAs from Ruby, it would be great to hear of your experience.

Alternatively, if there's nothing good that anyone can suggest native,
I'd be very grateful to hear peoples' opinion on using a C++ library
like GALib from within Ruby. I.e. - is it feasible without too much
hassle, and any pointers to any material that may help me build that
bridge would be great.

I've exhausted Google as far as I can manage, so I'm turning to
crowdsourcing here.

Thanks for your time and help, it's much appreciated.

- N

 

[Edwin Van leeuwen]

Hi,
So far Google has not been helpful for (2) so I am posting here seeking
advice on whether I've missed anything. I'm aware of projects like DRP
which look good for grammatical evolution, but I'm not sure whether they
support being used for vanilla GAs. If anyone has any experience using
GAs from Ruby, it would be great to hear of your experience.

Some projects that might be of interest (I have no experience with any
of them though )
http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/uni_genetic/
http://rubyforge.org/projects/gga4r/
http://rubyforge.org/projects/g2a/
http://raa.ruby-lang.org/cat.rhtml?category_major=Library;category_minor=AI

Alternatively, if there's nothing good that anyone can suggest native,
I'd be very grateful to hear peoples' opinion on using a C++ library
like GALib from within Ruby. I.e. - is it feasible without too much
hassle, and any pointers to any material that may help me build that
bridge would be great.

Building c extensions for ruby is quite doable. I understand that c++ is
a bit more hassle, but not too much. Another option would be to use
jruby and directly access one of the java genetic algorithm libraries (I
am pretty sure there must be quite a few of those).

 

[Marcin Mielżyński]

Edwin Van leeuwen pisze:

Building c extensions for ruby is quite doable. I understand that c++ is
a bit more hassle, but not too much. Another option would be to use
jruby and directly access one of the java genetic algorithm libraries (I
am pretty sure there must be quite a few of those).

Lots of them and no extensions/wrappers/bindings required. There is also
a Scala one : http://code.google.com/p/jiva-ng/

might be worth a try to access it using JRuby.

lopex